97 Bible Verses about Punishing Your Children

Proverbs 23:13-14 ESV / 61 helpful votes

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 50 helpful votes

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 46 helpful votes

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV / 42 helpful votes

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 29:15 ESV / 32 helpful votes

The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

Proverbs 22:15 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Proverbs 29:17 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.

Ephesians 6:1 ESV / 27 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Proverbs 19:18 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV / 24 helpful votes

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Colossians 3:21 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Exodus 21:17 ESV / 19 helpful votes

“Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.

Hebrews 12:6-7 ESV / 18 helpful votes

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

Exodus 21:15 ESV / 17 helpful votes

“Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Proverbs 23:13 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

Ezekiel 18:20 ESV / 9 helpful votes

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 9 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

Luke 15:11-32 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ...

Matthew 25:46 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Exodus 20:12 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ...

Luke 2:51 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

Malachi 4:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

Exodus 20:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

2 Thessalonians 1:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 5 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

Romans 6:23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Mark 10:13-16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Mark 9:43 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

Malachi 4:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

Ezekiel 28:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes

By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you.

Proverbs 23:24 ESV / 5 helpful votes

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

Proverbs 1:7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Jude 1:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

Romans 8:38-39 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 25:41 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Proverbs 26:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.

Proverbs 20:30 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts.

Proverbs 20:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright.

Proverbs 12:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

Proverbs 6:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Deuteronomy 11:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deuteronomy 8:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.

Exodus 34:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:6-7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 20:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“You shall not murder.

Revelation 3:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

1 John 4:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Hebrews 12:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

Colossians 3:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Ephesians 4:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Romans 13:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Luke 18:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Proverbs 23:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Proverbs 3:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof,

Psalm 127:3-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalm 68:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Psalm 51:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

1 Kings 12:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

Deuteronomy 31:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Deuteronomy 24:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

Deuteronomy 6:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deuteronomy 5:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 4:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children—

Exodus 21:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

Exodus 20:5-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 12:14-51 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ...

Genesis 18:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

1 Peter 5:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

James 1:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 1:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Hebrews 12:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

Hebrews 12:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

Proverbs 15:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.

Proverbs 13:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

Proverbs 10:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.

Proverbs 10:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.

Proverbs 6:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching.

Proverbs 3:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 1:8-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.

Proverbs 1:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching,

Psalm 139:1-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. ...

Psalm 127:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

Psalm 113:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 94:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law,

1 Kings 12:13-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”

Deuteronomy 5:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Leviticus 20:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

Exodus 20:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

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